Goals against elite a sign of growth!

Dan Black

Burnley’s ability to breach the Premier League’s elite on the road is a sign of the club’s growth says skipper Tom Heaton.

While the Clarets have yet to win away from Turf Moor this term, taking four points from 17 games on their travels, only two of the division’s top seven have been successful in keeping Sean Dyche’s side out.

Like the manager says, it’s part of our growth. We’re going to these places and putting performances in!

Tom Heaton

Sam Vokes’s penalty, which temporarily levelled proceedings against Everton at Goodison Park, meant that the Clarets have only failed to find the net against leaders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and against Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Having scored at White Hart Lane, Anfield, the Etihad and the Emirates over the course of the campaign, England international Heaton said: “Like the manager says, it’s part of our growth. We’re going to these places and putting performances in.

“I’ve said it a lot, I don’t want to keep sounding like a broken record, but we are close to getting that result. A few different details today and it could’ve been a different result.

“I think it’s been building. We’ve had some decent performances away but that win is still elusive. It’s certainly up there, certainly one of the better ones.

“We moved the ball well, mixed it well and made it uncomfortable for them. It was just a shame that we couldn’t capitalise on that.

“We looked dangerous, we kept them relatively quiet, although they have a formidable strike force. There are positives to be taken but overall we’re desperate for that first win.”

Burnley now have just two games remaining to break their duck with fixtures against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and Bournemouth, at the Vitality Stadium, on the horizon.

Heaton admits that the squad aren’t dwelling too much on that record, especially with performance levels moving on an upward curve.

After the Toffees set a club record eighth successive win in the Premier League, Heaton said: “In general it was mostly a good performance. I feel like we’ve been saying that a lot but we’ve been doing everything we can to turn those performances in to results.

“We had a go. We went on the front foot, something we always try to do, and I thought that stood us in good stead in the game. We had a few chances in the first half and we could’ve gone in to the break up.

“It was always going to be a tough game, we’ve given a good account of ourselves, but it’s frustrating not to get a result.

“We’re not looking at it like that. Of course you don’t want that sort of record following you around but we’ll focus on what’s right in front of us.”

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